![[U. S. A.]](images/flags/usa.gif) Chameleon Software
They were located at 4733 N. Mitchner, Indianapolis, IN 46226,
USA.
They are or have been distributed by Adventure International.
Maces and Magic
Advertised as a "thinking person's dungeon".
The three Maces and Magics games (Balrog, Stone of
Sisyphus, and Morton's Fork) were adventure games where a
player chose one of multiple choices to navigate around a
puzzle-filled world. The games were available on the
TRS-80, Apple II, and Atari 800. All games required disk
drives.
The player typically wandered around the world gathering
items; to solve puzzles, the player had to "use" found
items by naming a one-word action to perform. For example,
in a room with a dartboard, the player might choose to use
the dart, then would type "THROW" as the action. With a
pile of lumber, the player would type "LADDER" to build a
ladder. Unfortunately, memory constraints limited the
number of synonyms, making the process of solving some of
the puzzles annoying. Each game usually provided hints
about appropriate words inside some of its messages
displayed when starting up each game.
The games are probably best known for having a good sense
of humor and great setting. Unlike other many other
adventure games of the time, most of the descriptions were
kept off on disk, and only the current messages were loaded
into memory. This allowed for much more descriptive text
than the Scott Adams adventures. Monsters and fighting were
present, but usually only as a way to slow a player down
(or kill the player off) while scuttling between puzzles.
The games also tended to be less likely to maintain a
realistic world, instead sticking together creative, but
disparate puzzles into a world. Balrog represented a
dungeon crawl with outdoor and indoor adventures. Stone of
Sisyphus represented a mostly internal dungeon crawl.
Morton's Fork involved searching around a castle.
AS YOU APPROACH THE MANTICORE, THE MONSTER PHOTOS FALL FROM
YOUR PACK. HIS EYES BUG OUT AND HE BEGINS TO SALIVATE.
'I MUST HAVE THOSE PHOTOS', HE GRUNTS.
YOU MAY OFFER TO SELL THEM (1) OR REFUSE (2).
FEW ADVENTURERS HAVE HAD THE EXPERIENCE OF FIGHTING A
MANTICORE BARE HANDED. I'LL BE SURE TO TAKE NOTES.
Strangely, even though the multiple choice options would
conceivably be frustrating by forcing the player into only
following certain actions, the outlandish choices (and
results) kept the game fun.
Example from "Morton's Fork": When the player chooses to
gaze into a mirror in a bedroom, the following action
happens:
...THE MIRROR SHATTERS... & ACCORDING TO TRADITION, YOUR
LUCK IS DOWN 7 FOR 7 YEARS. AS YOU HURRIEDLY LEAVE THE
ROOM, A DWARF FROM THE GLAZIERS' UNION PUSHES PAST YOU
MUTTERING ABOUT UGLY ADVENTURERS.
From "Stone of Sisyphus":
A SEARING BLAST OF HEAT RAISES RIVULETS OF PERSPIRATION ON
YOUR HEROIC FOREHEAD AS YOU CONFRONT THE DUNGEON HEATING
PLANT. THE FIERY TENTACLES OF THE PLANT REACH FOR YOU....
Balrog was the first game; on both the TRS-80 and Apple,
the data files for the game alone filled one disk, and thus
the game required a two drive machine to run. The later
games had smaller adventures, and couple be run on single
player machines.
One of the interesting technical features of the game is
that the game doesn't really have rooms, but "situations"
providing a description and a set of options.
|
2: The Stone of Sisyphus